Experts Doubt North Korea Could Nuke the US

ICBM Advances Are Vastly Overstated

US threats to attack North Korea center on the idea that North Korea poses a direct threat to the US mainland, with the notion that a preemptive attack would be launched to prevent North Korea nuking American cities.

This “threat” grew with a new assessment that North Korea has miniaturized its warheads to mount on a missile. This assessment, however, seems to have glossed over the many questions about North Korea’s ICBM technology, which experts continue to say are unanswered.

North Korea’s two recent ICBM tests bot made these problems with their technology glaringly obvious. North Korea has no guidance technology to steer missiles fired over long range, and more importantly have no reentry technology to allow ICBM’s to fly long range without breaking up.

This all boils down to North Korea conceivably having a missile that could fly a long range, not aimed, with a possible nuclear warhead on board, but probably couldn’t deliver it to any specific target anywhere in the world, let alone ensure the warhead survives the trip.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.